Weekly Update #219: More New Sprites!

Yep, you’re seeing that right! Even though I thought I had all the sprites ready for the next part of the extended demo, I kinda ended up… making a couple more! Though, to be fair, these ones were planned to be used in the game eventually anyway. I just found use for them earlier than I initially thought. And how exactly did that happen? Well…

During this past week, I worked a bit more on the script. Specifically the corpse discovery scene. Out of everything I have written for GENBA thus far, it’s by far the part that went through the most extensive revisions. Originally, I was just going to show a CG and have a little bit of inner monologue for Keiichi. It was a much shorter and quicker scene, similar to how it would be handled in an Ace Attorney game. Now, however, it goes slightly more into a horror-esque direction that’s more about building tension through anticipation. Something more akin to what I did in SHINRAI.

When I started writing GENBA, I really wanted to go with a faster pace all throughout, but in the end, I don’t think that’s a good idea. Sometimes, scenes need to be a bit slower in order to evoke certain feelings and reactions in the player. And given the feedback I’ve gotten for it, I think it works a lot better now than it did before. Besides, I’m personally much happier with it now too, so yeah!

Anyway, due to the changes I have made, the scene got quite a bit longer and is now in need of a couple more sprite variations. As you can see, they haven’t been that work-intensive, though. For the three above, I just needed new facial expressions while re-using already existing poses. There is one more elaborate new sprite for Keiichi, however, which I’m not going to publicly show just yet. It is supposed to perfectly encapsulate his reaction upon laying eyes on the body.

It’s not quite done yet anyway, but I’ll post it on Patreon as soon as it is!

Outside of that, I’ve continued working a bit more on the next background (which I’ve posted the initial sketch for in last week’s update) and took care of some other assets needed for our extended demo like sound effects, for example.

And since I’ve just mentioned Patreon, patrons can actually check out the final version of this year’s Halloween artwork over here, since Natsu and I finished that as well!

Now, before we come to an end, please let me once again remind you about the demo release for Pitch Black Serenade!
If you haven’t yet, be sure to check it out! You can find out more and download it here!

As always, I wish you to enjoy the rest of your weekend! Until next Saturday, take care! :3